Review by Neelam Mishra -- The 11.05 Murders

[Neelam Mishra]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The 11.05 Murders" by Brian O'Hare.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The book 11.05 Murders is a fiction written by Brian O’ Hare. Needless to mention, as the title itself suggests that the story revolves around a murder mystery. But it is little more than just that. Apart from running after clues and leads to find out the killer, the story also offers a glimpse of the personal life of the investigating officers, which is gratefully not overdone to make it too boring to read. The best part here is that the readers will feel connected to the characters of this novel as the author, very proficiently, lets us into their minds and makes us feel what they are going through.

The story begins with a young and pretty Police officer, Sergeant Denise Steward, who has been recently promoted to Strantdown, ‘B’ District from Lisburn City Police Station, ‘D’ District, for exposing the corrupt practices of one of her senior officers there. She meets DCI J. Sheehan, to whom she would be reporting at Strantdown, a young and handsome colleague, Detective Tom Allen and a charming barrister, Robert Turner, who is quite a fan of her. Some readers could relate to Denise’s inner battle which she goes through because of the sexism she had faced in her previous work place as we find her doing all the mental analysis of pros and cons before making any friendly gesture to any of her colleagues. J. Sheehan as a leader, is all that a fresher could ask for. He is smart, witty, experienced and most importantly, empathetic towards each of his teammates. Similarly, Tom Allen understands the prejudice Denise has faced previously, so he keeps trying to make her believe that they are a team.

One night, a brutal murder gets reported in the Serious Crimes Department. Through investigation, Sheehan and his team discovered that the Victim, Mr. Fitzpatricks, was a selfish being and had earned many enemies in both personal and professional life, owing to his greed. Sheehan along with his team, works on the different angles of the case simultaneously. Denise rises as a star for her contribution in the development of the case and eventually feels accepted as a part of the team, letting go all the bitterness of her previous experience. She gets overwhelmed with the attention she gets but at the same time feels vulnerable to the darkness of the past shadows as someone stalks her regularly on her way home. She is also puzzled over a secret informant who is helping her in the case over phone. Later, the case gets more quizzical when another murder of similar nature occurs.

The story progresses in a steady pace keeping the readers glued with some shocking revelations in between, few of which were pretty much obvious though. The graph of the plot suddenly shoots up in the climax when all the facts which were previously ignored by the characters as well as the reader, are put together. Things which I personally liked are that the author hasn’t given too much detailed description of crime scenes or other locations in the plot and provided only required amount of data. Next thing which I appreciate is that there is not a single coincidence or an element of luck that plays a significant role in the plot. Things work how they work in real life. Then, the author hasn’t tried to showcase a brilliant mind which could just by looking at the crime scene, uncovers half of the things. Rather, the detectives in the story, rely only upon the facts and clues that come their way or which they find out through their keen observations and reasoning. Lastly, the literary aspect of this book is commendable. The language is rich, exemplary and at the same time comprehensible.

Those who are more into murder mysteries while choosing a book to read, must try it. It has few other elements too which keep it from being a monotonous read. The quality and the content worth your time. I will give it a 4 out of 4 stars because it is nicely edited and quite an entertaining book which comprises everything which one could expect from a book of such title.

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The 11.05 Murders
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[Izesicle]

I like the part of the review where you said that the police work was very realistic. There was no luck or coincidence to help the story progress. I rated the novel two out of four stars.